http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S7lAbOk75I
Some highlights from the video:
• Land Banks can be used as an alternative to public auction or tax lien sales for disposition of properties to private investors.
• Government takes control over disposition and use of property.
• It replaces the existing system.
• Makes sale of property policy driven – government decides who can buy it.
• “No one should have any doubt in a land bank transaction when there’s competing interests – policies should make it crystal clear who should get the property.”
• Government determines priority for the use of a property.
• Community has to be involved, however “they may not always be right – but their voices should be heard.”
• “The decisions that a land bank or government makes about the uses of the land will simply be better decisions.”
• “Land bank might be a tool just to support affordable housing providers."
• “Land bank can sell, lease or buy on its own terms.”
• “Land bank can provide Seller financing – it might be the best way to get property into the hands of low or moderate income people who are unable to get financing otherwise.” (research: income diversity).
• “Land banks are a way to control distressed property.”
• “It is a way to cleanup what was left behind (from original people who built the community) from past unsustainable development practices.”
• “The cool thing is that it is funded with the money that used to go to those tax lien purchasers. We decided that if someone is going to make money on delinquent taxes and take control of property that comes with that system, that somebody should be us.”
• We can re-engineer it – and create new control of our own landscape and resources to re-purpose these properties.
• “In New York, you now have a land bank act on the books.”
The current Governor of the State of NY, Andrew Cuomo, is the former Executive Director of HUD and was one of the original members appointed to Bill Clinton's President's Council for Sustainable Development, tasked with implementing Agenda 21 in the United States.
http://www.nysac.org/legislative-action/documents/NYSACLandBankBriefReport.pdf
